Roman Trade Routes

• The following is a list of major Trade Routes that were used by the Romans.

The River Routes

• The River Po in Italy was navigable to the Adriatic.
• The Rhine in Germania was navigable to the North Sea, and controlled by a series of tolls coordinated from Strasbourg.
• The Danube was navigable to the Black Sea.
• The Nile in Egypt was navigable to Coptos where cargoes were transhipped for the desert crossing to the Red Sea.
• The Rhone in Gaul was navigable to the sea, but required an overland section to connect to the Moselle or the Rhine.

Roman Canals

• The Romans built numerous canals to help their shipping bypass difficult river deltas.
• The Fossa Augusta linked Ravenna to the Sea. The Portus canal linked the Tiber to the Harbour at Portus.
• And the Fossa Mariana linked Arles to the Sea.

The main Mediterranean Ports

• Italy: Puteoli and Pompeii:
  • • The main Ports in Italy under the Republic were Puteoli (Pozzuoli) and Pompeii near Naples. Goods were then transferred to smaller ships and taken to Ostia. From there barges performed the last sector up the Tiber into Rome.
  • Portus and Centumcellae:
    • Under the Empire, the main ports became Portus and Centumcellae.
• Greece: Corinth
  • • To avoid circumnavigating the Peloponnese, vessels would arrive at the Isthmus of Corinth and then be transported overland into the Aegean via the Diolkos.
    • The Diolkos was the worlds first Railway, a 4 mile (6km) overland road for vessels. They were transported on a wheeled cradle guided by ruts in the road, over the isthmus of Corinth.
  • Byzantium
    • Its harbour was on the Bosphorus which connects the Black Sea with the Aegean.
• Egypt: Alexandria
  • • Trade from the Red Sea and India came through Alexandria.
    • The Alexandrian Grain Fleet also brought Grain to Rome.
• Gaul: Marseille and Narbonne
  • • Trade to the Atlantic went overland to Bordeaux and to the northern frontier up the Rhone to the Rhine.
• Africa: Carthage:
  • • Grain and goods that had crossed the Sahara departed from Carthage for Ostia.

Black Sea

• • The main ports for the Black Sea were at Chersonesus Taurica (The Crimea), Trabzon and Constantinople (Byzantium).
  • The Black Sea was a crossing for numerous trade routes, such as the Rivers emerging from Russia, the Danube emerging from Europe, the Silk Road emerging from the East, (from across the Caucasus), and the Bosphorus connecting to the Ionian and Mediterranean seas.

Incense Road

• The Incense Road was also known as the Spice Road.
• This was a Camel Caravan route that ran parallel to the Red Sea between Yemen and Gaza.

Silk Road

• Camel Caravans went overland from Antioch to Ctesiphon, and then on to China. Persia acted as the middleman in the Silk Trade.
• The Route also went via the Euphrates and Tigris to the Persian Gulf, and on to India.

The Trade Route to India

• An annual Fleet would depart from Alexandria, travel up the Nile to Coptos, then cross the Desert to the Myos Hormos on the Red Sea. From here a Fleet would sail to India and Sri Lanka, using the Monsoon. It would return to Egypt within a few months.
• In 166 CE the first Roman fleet is recorded as having reached China.

The Trade Route across the Sahara

• There were Camel Caravan Routes form Carthage and Leptis Magna that crossed the Sahara and connected to the Sahel African Kingdoms.

Amber Road

• Amber was found on the Baltic Coasts of Lithuania and Poland.
• It then travelled down the Amber Road which passed through the land of the Boii, in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, who controlled this part of the Amber Road.
• The Amber Road arrived at the Moravian Gate, a Pass in the Czech Republic, between the Carpathian Mountains and the Sudetes Mountains, through which all Trade in the Ancient World passed.
• It then went down the River Morava to Carnuntum on the Danube, where the Amber Road crossed the into the control of the Roman Empire.
• The main Terminus of the Amber Road was Aquileia on the Venetian Lagoon. From here it would continue its journey by sea or by road to Rome.

Tin Road

• Tin followed the Amber Road from the Baltic.
• Tin also travelled down the river Seine from Britannia and the river Loire from Brittany, to reach the Mediterranean.

Salt Road

• The Via Salaria meaning ‘Salt Road’, brought salt from Castrum Truentium on the Adriatic, to Rome.

Wool

• Wool from Britannia crossed the English Channel and came to Italy through the rivers of Gaul and across the Mediterranean.

Roman Roads

• The Romans built Roads to all the Frontiers.
• A Road Map of the network exists, known as the Peutinger Table.

Roman Industry

• The Romans manufactured Goods, such as Glass, Pottery, silver tableware and tin items for use in the household.
• These would then be shipped around the Mediterranean and its rivers to markets in the Provinces.

Portus, Italy